IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

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Supreme Court takes note of rising rape cases, seeks status report from states, HCs

News

• Taking suo motu cognizance on the assessment of the criminal justice system regarding sexual offences, the Supreme Court sought a reply and status report from all the states and High Courts on aspects such as investigation process, collection of evidence, recording of statement of victim and time frame for trial.

Sexual offences

• Taking serious note of the rising number of rape cases in the country, the apex court underlined the need to collate information and status reports to ensure holistic implementation of the provisions of the rape law.
• The top court also appointed senior advocate Siddharth Luthra as amicus curiae for assistance in the matter.
• An amicus curia is someone who is not a party to a case and is not necessarily solicited but assists a court by offering information, expertise or insight that has bearing on the issues in the case.
• CJI SA Bobde appointed a committee of two Supreme Court Judges for ensuring speedy disposal of rape cases across the country. The Committee consists of Justices R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah.
• The CJI had constituted the panel in the exercise of his administrative powers for the purpose of monitoring of the cases through the High Courts to ensure their speedy disposal in a time-bound manner.
• The development comes following nationwide outrage over the Unnao and Hyderabad rape incidents.

UN Secretary General raises concern about crackdown on CAA protesters

News

• UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres voiced concern over the “alleged use of excessive force” against those protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act in India.
• India, said “those genuinely committed to religious freedom” should not be criticising the CAA, as it expedites grating of Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from neighbouring countries.

China’s bid to rake up Kashmir in UNSC fails

News

• A move by China to get the Kashmir issue on the agenda for consultations in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has been thwarted by other members led by the US and France.

Move by China

• China had earlier managed to hold informal closed-door consultations on Kashmir in the UNSC on August 16, 11 days after India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 on August 5.
• Beijing sent a note to the UNSC over the weekend to “echo the request” of Pakistan for a briefing on Kashmir. On December 12, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had written to the UNSC and expressed concern about a possible escalation of the situation.
• But the US, which holds the presidency of the UNSC, did not yield to the latest request by China. France also joined in and said that the Kashmir issue has to be discussed bilaterally.
• Chinese has withdrawn its request, and no meeting on Kashmir will be held. The UNSC is now meeting on the issue of Sudan and South Sudan, as per their original schedule.

In numbers and dimensions, the global refugee crisis

News

• The first Global Refugee Forum (GRF) is currently underway in Geneva, Switzerland, jointly hosted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Refugee Agency, and the Government of Switzerland.
• At the two-day event, member states of the United Nations (UN) are debating the response of nations to the global refugee situation.

Global refugee numbers

• According to the UN, by the end of 2018, there were around 70.8 million people around the world who had left their home countries because of conflict and persecution. Of these 70.8 million, roughly 30 million are refugees.
• The UN defines refugees as those individuals that have fled their own countries because of persecution, war or violence.
• Globally, more two-thirds of all refugees come from five countries: Syria (6.7 million), Afghanistan (2.7 million), South Sudan (2.3 million), Myanmar (1.1 million), and Somalia (0.9 million).
• Countries in the developed regions host 16 per cent of refugees; one-third of the refugee population (6.7 million people) are in the Least Developed Countries.
• The largest host countries are Turkey (3.7 million), Pakistan (1.4 million), Uganda (1.2 million), Sudan (1.1 million), and Germany (1.1 million).
• According to the UN’s Global Trends report released this year, there are 37,000 new displacements every day.
• In 2018, 13.6 million people were newly displaced due to conflict and or persecution.

Refugee situation in India

• India does not have a separate statute for refugees, and until now has been dealing with refugees on a case-by-case basis.
• India is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention on Refugees or the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. In 2011, the Union government circulated to all states and Union Territories a Standard Operating Procedure to deal with foreign nationals who claimed to be refugees.
• In late 2011, the Rohingya started to arrive in India’s Northeast following stepped-up persecution by the Myanmarese armed forces.
• According to the Home Ministry, there are roughly 14,000 Rohingya refugees in India who are registered with the UNHCR, and there are estimated to be 40,000 Rohingya living in India illegally.
• According to the Bureau of Immigration Data, India sent back 330 Pakistanis and 1,770 Bangladeshis between 2015 and 2018.
• Earlier this year, the Home Ministry informed Rajya Sabha that India had deported 22 Myanmar nationals, including Rohingya, since 2017.

US to India on CAA: Respect right of peaceful assembly

News

• Four days after it urged India to “protect the rights of its religious minorities” in keeping with its “Constitution and democratic values”, the US asked Indian authorities to “protect and respect the right of peaceful assembly.”

Protect and respect the right of peaceful assembly

• The statement comes after the spate of protests across the country, especially by students, against the new citizenship law.
• It also sets the stage and tone for the 2+2 ministerial dialogue between two sides on Wednesday in Washington DC External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with their American counterparts, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark T Esper.
• While the agenda of the meeting is to discuss bilateral strategic issues, a discussion between the two sides on issues like new citizenship law and Kashmir cannot be ruled out.
• With two statements in a span of four days, Washington is indicating a strong signal especially days after the US House Foreign Affairs Committee had voiced concerns over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, noting that any religious test for citizenship undermines pluralism, which is one of the core shared values for both India and the United States.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

NASA’s Juno discovers new Texas-sized cyclone on Jupiter’s south pole

News

• A recent flyby of Jupiter by NASA’s Juno spacecraft has led to the discovery of a new cyclone on the south pole of the planet.

Discovery of a new cyclone

• The 22nd flyby took place soaring 3,500 kilometres above the cloud top of the gas giant. The discovery happened when the mission team was working to save the solar-powered spacecraft from Jupiter’s shadow, which could have been its end.
• While trying to figure out how to conserve the energy of the spacecraft, the engineers decided to make the Juno jump Jupiter’s shadow.
• When Juno first arrived at Jupiter in July 2016, it discovered giant cyclones encircling the planet’s poles nine in the north and six in the south each nearly as wide as the continental US.

IAF component of Indra: Joint Task Force units of India, Russia practice elimination of terrorists

News

• The Air Force element of the joint tri-services exercise ‘Indra’ between India and Russia is underway in Pune and Gwalior where Joint Task Force units are undertaking simulated operations to eliminate terrorists at the request of a third country under the United Nations mandate.

Joint tri-services exercise

• The Army and Navy modules of the exercise, respectively, are being conducted at Babina in Uttar Pradesh and Goa.
• The Russian contingent in the exercise comprises more than 700 servicemen, including units of the all-arms army of the Eastern Military District, pilots and technical staff of the District’s Air Force and the sailors and Navy officers from warships in the Baltic Fleet.
• The Indian Air Force has fielded its frontline fighter jet of Russian make, Sukhoi-30MKI, ground attack jets Jaguar, MI-17 helicopters, Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft and units of Garud commandos.
• Indra initially began as a bilateral one service exercise between India and Russia in 2003 and the first joint tri-services exercise was conducted in 2017. This is the second iteration of the tri-services version.
• The sea phase of the Navy component will be held in the Arabian Sea. The Indian Navy will be represented by INS Aditya, a Fleet Support Ship and INS Tarkash, a frontline Guided Missile Frigate, along with the Navy’s Mig-29 fighter jets. Russian Federation Navy (RuFN) Ships Yaroslav Mudry, Viktor Konetsky and Elyna are also participating.

Environment ministry keeps in abeyance its letter to Karnataka on Mahadayi project

News

• Following a series of protest by Goa, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change kept in abeyance a letter it wrote in October to Karnataka giving the green nod to its Rs 841 crore Kalasa-Banduri water diversion project on Mahadayi river.

Dispute

• Goa and Karnataka are locked in a dispute over the sharing of Mahadayi waters, and Kalasa-Banduri project aims at providing drinking water to three north Karnataka districts by diverting water from the Mahadayi.

Karnataka sets up 24×7 control room to monitor news, entertainment TV channels

News

• The Karnataka government has set up a 24×7 control room in Bengaluru to monitor programmes telecast on satellite and cable television channels in the state, and receive complaints regarding the content aired by them.

24×7 control room

• The move was notified by the government in an affidavit submitted to the Karnataka High Court by the secretary of the Information and Public Relations Department (IPRD).
• All channels including news and entertainment channels from Karnataka will be monitored 24×7. As many as 46 staff members have been deployed in the control room set up in the IPRD headquarters in Bengaluru, from December 14.
• The IPRD will also forward complaints raised by district-level cable TV monitoring committees to the jurisdictional district magistrate seeking appropriate action and to source reports on the same.

Complaints can be registered on the contents of television channels under the provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulations) Act(1995).

Canada’s CPPIB commits $225 million to Piramal-led India Resurgence Fund

News

• Distressed assets buyout platform India Resurgence Fund (IndiaRF) has received a commitment of funds worth USD 225 million (approximately Rs 1,560 crore) from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).

India Resurgence Fund

• IndiaRF, which was set up with Piramal Enterprises Limited and Bain Capital Credit as joint sponsors, seeks to make investments in assets which are in distress through the purchase of existing debt and equity securities through bankruptcy courts or directly from lenders, or through newly issued securities.
• It takes control over the turnaround of such assets through recapitalisation and operational improvements.
• IndiaRF had earlier raised USD 100 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) through its distressed asset recovery program.
• IFC has played the role of anchor investor for IndiaRF and will use its global expertise, alongside that of CPPIB, to help implement environmental, social and corporate governance standards at IndiaRF.
• The India Resurgence Fund platform has received a commitment of USD 225 million from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, through its wholly owned subsidiary, CPPIB Credit Investments Inc.
• IndiaRF has also raised capital from other international high-net-worth investors and family offices through the current round.

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